So, here’s what was supposed to happen. I guess we can talk about it now. Enough time has passed, people have been forgotten, need to be remembered. Our history is our culture as much as our food. That’s true. I’m not sure what our history or our food says about our culture, but it’s what we got. We can’t escape one or do without the other, for long. We can be honest about the whole situation, right? If we look around the place, the whole place, not just our place, we’ve got way too much history and not enough food. Too many people out there being the drama, getting their names in the books, not enough people getting fed. It doesn’t take too much. It’s not that hard. Almost anyone can look back and see what history was being made and know where the food went.

For a while, when I was very young, people worried that there would be too many people, not enough food, the Orb couldn’t do it. It looked that way too. People were starving all over and in other places they hadn’t recovered from all that history they made. A lot of that history is gone now, so are a lot of people. Those people, their names aren’t in the books. They all had names, those children of hungry mommas, who held them while they died. All those names are forgotten when rich kids gave their pennies and rich mommas said – Who would have a baby when things are that bad? Silly starving mothers, can’t they see the history being made around them? History is steel and plastic and bullion. Look around you mother, there’s just rags and dirt, shit and bugs. Is that any place to raise a child?

Humans are supposed to be better than that, sensible, pill taking, free to choose. The pills come in plastic packs with foil over each one, they are made from stuff taken out of pregnant mare’s urine. You need a lot of pregnant mares to control the human population. That’s what they called it. Human population control. Well, it was Freedom from Biology, a liberation for some, the control was for these other women who so obviously lacked common sense. Giving birth to a precious new life, a link in the unbroken chain of evolution, to watch it starve, be diseased by bugs, dirty all the time, a buried waste of protein. Do you even weep? Have you no shame? We saw you, lots of you, on our television sets, hollow eyes in snowy static. We had to turn you off. You made us sick. You distracted us from our social revolution, our freedom, the wonders of our plastics, our inner quest for spiritual enlightenment, the Brave New World of our future.

You see, it was all going to be a new history, we weren't going to be old humans any more. We would conquer everything that has dragged us down over the last 200,000 years since the tails fell off. No one ever considered that humans, us, Homo sapiens, would ever, oh my gods, breed with Neanderthals! Yeah, well, not us baby, if that happened that might explain those problems somewhere else.

We’re working on the big issues of humanity, see. Saving kids from war, not some slimy kids with distended bellies, the unfortunate victims of some war mongering regime, trying to take-over some should-be-forgotten place somewhere we can’t pronounce, hell no. See, we care about our kids, we want them to live. Them too, they want to live. Our future is so bright, they have something to live for. But, yeah, you bet, people matter to us, everybody sure. Look, even our little tykes are collecting pennies for the Third World, so they can get a break and some birth control, and lift themselves up, be productive, and make stuff for us that we can’t be bothered with because we are so deeply involved in our own personal spiritual journeys. There’s food enough for everyone over here. Damn people.

Are there any good pool halls (or bars with enough pool tables to be likely to get one free on a Friday/Saturday night) in the central city that have at least two or three types of cider available? Free pool would be especially spectacular but not obligatory.

A female friend of mine is interested in seeing seeing a counsellor to talk through some emotional problems she has been experiencing. Nothing sexual, but more depression and negative self image issues.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for a councellor, preferable one in the city?

Driving home from work at the hospital tonight, I had just reached the end of Newtown, heading towards the circle leading towards Russell Terrace when I noticed an odd light in the sky just ahead. Much higher than street lamps, but nowhere near as high as the stars .. it was a strong, glowing yellow light with no twinkles around it - more like a steady candle flame sort of light. It seemed to be moving although slowly - I was going faster than it was moving because as I proceeded along Russell Terrace I could see I was coming along 'under' it, as it were. I slowed down, trying not to go off the road or into a parked car or anything as I gawked upwards at it. I halted at the side of the road and watched as the light veered slowly across the road to the right, growing smaller as it did so - as if it were rising higher and higher and thus getting smaller and smaller ... then it was gone.

I checked the time and it was 11:32 pm. I was very much wide awake and (having just come from work as an RN) was definitely not drunk or high! I am NOT a UFO watcher nor do I believe in ghosts or any of the fringier elements of the New Age stuff, but this was not something that fitted into any category I know. No noise, so not a helicopter or a plane. Not zooming along, so not a firework. I stopped again further along Mt Albert rd and looked back across the city, but there were no other odd lights, only very faint stars up above.

This is a long-shot, but does anyone know a store in Wellington (or an online store in NZ) that sells dB Logic HP-100 headphones? I'm going to check a couple of places in-store, but none of the likely culprits have them listed on their websites and Google isn't turning up anything.

Just thought I'd drop this in here. Received via work email, please note I have nothing to do with organising this, and apologise if anyone finds it spammy:---------------------------------------------------

Refugee Services is looking forward to the next group of former-refugee families and singles from Myanmar-Burma and Colombia, resettling in our region in just 2 weeks. ( detailsCollapse )

No it is not ok that you constantly run orange and even read lights, especially on the corner of Willace and Lambton. today one of you ran a read light, i know it was read as the green man signal was beeping, and there was a man trying to cross who had a white cane. yes that man was blind, and could not see that you had run a read light thus he ran into you as he was crossing. you see in a busy intersection, it is difficult to here what is going on around you, thus i suspect that he was attuned to the cross signal, and trusting that Wellington Bus Drivers have enough integrity to not run red or orange lights. you nearly ran him over, and then because of the afore mentioned running a red light, the blind man was starting to walk into traffic. i had to stop him, and guide him back to the curb, so that i could then help him cross the road safely while you continued on with out so much as stopping. and because i was busy helping a nice man across the road i didn't get your bus number, however i still laid a complaint, with the request that Wellington Bus Drivers STOP RUNNING ORANGE AND RED LIGHTS, because it could of been so much worse so very much worse.

i would like to thank the other people of Wellington who were also willing to help an also came running to the rescue but also kept their distance when they saw help was being offered.. casue that could of been very confusing. also thank you to the nice man who mouthed thank you to me and gave me the thumbs up.. and finally thank you to the blind man who's name i didn't get, it happened all so fast, but thank you for smiling and squeezing my elbow when i said that i was scared for you because of the traffic.. gosh you were calm.. i tell you i had to have a sit down a cup of tea after that..

to to make it clear.. Wellington Bus Drivers, DO NOT RUN ORANGE OR READ LIGHTS ANY LONGER! IT IS NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR, do not make me come to one of your staff meetings and tell you personally mmk..

Just a wee reminder that WYRD SISTERS, based on the Terry Pratchett novel, is currently on at the Gryphon Theatre in Ghunznee street. Tickets are $25.00 (waged) or $20.00 (unwaged) or $18.00 per person if you make a booking for a group of ten or more.

I'm pathologically disinterested in politics, but am looking to buy a present for someone who's really interested both NZ and international politics. I was wondering if anyone here might be able to give me a book recommendation? I'd like something that's humorous, rather than simply informative. If anyone knows of any books that are both interesting and a good laugh, I'd love to hear!

Where's a good place in Wellington to hire a gaming console (probably Wii, maybe 360, a place that would hire out either would be supreme) for cheap over the summer? Ideally somewhere that lets you hire it for however long rather than contract to have it for 6 months or whatever.